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Everything posted by jeremie

In 2015, rhino experts agreed that there might be only 30 sumatran rhinos left: 2 in Kalimantan, few or none in Bukit Barisan, less than 15 in Gunung Leuser and same in Kay Wambas national parks.
They also agreed that at this state, it was urgent to capture wild breeding rhinos and relocate them in a breeding center with at least 20 rhinos.
Unfortunately, the decision maker - the Indonesian government - has not taken any decision up to know. Neither decided to send semen to Sabah to try in vitro techniques.
I let you the story here:
https://news.mongabay.com/2017/11/worst-case-scenario-there-could-be-only-30-wild-sumatran-rhinos-left/
https://news.mongabay.com/2017/11/where-oh-where-are-the-rhinos-of-bukit-barisan-selatan/
https://news.mongabay.com/2017/11/is-anyone-going-to-save-the-sumatran-rhino/
https://news.mongabay.com/2017/11/the-fate-of-the-sumatran-rhino-is-in-the-indonesian-governments-hands/

There is a number of 75 hyenas uniquely identified by camera trapping in Odzala: https://open.uct.ac.za/bitstream/item/14086/thesis_sci_2014_de blocq_ad.pdf?sequence=1
http://www.diss.fu-berlin.de/diss/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/FUDISS_derivate_000000018395/Bohm_Torsten.diss.pdf
Hyenas spoors were located South to Franceville in 2008. It seems this animal spread from Congo's Odzala region. Preys are very scarce in the Bateke and currently could not support any viable population of large predator.

We now know where does this lonesome lion comes from...
https://rd.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10592-017-1039-2
He might be the last survivor of the former population from the Odzala-Bateke region of central Africa.
Phillip Henschel confirmed that ANPN is considering reintroducing females lions from Southern Africa in the Bateke plateau...

It is great to see they are securing the budget for the mid-term management of the park.
This couple of short videos from the Agency France Press (AFP) relates different plans that APN will put in place in the Pendjari:
- Collaring key species such as elephants to get better knowledge of the migrations ins the WAP and to protect them more efficiently.
- Increase the number of animals to the double of the current number in 10 years.
- Reintroduce wild dogs.
- Reintroduce rhinos.
I am a quite surprised by this last information, I always thought that rhinos were absent West of lake Chad.
I expected some information about the cheetah conservation plan, but nothing was stated here about this critically endangered species for Pendjari NP.
Note: the video has some restrictions.

While the giraffe populations are globally collapsing worldwide, mainly due to ilegal poaching and shrinking habitat, there is a fantastic story ocuring South of Niamey, Niger's capital.
We now know that there are 4 distinct species of giraffes and not a single one as we thought before, this breakthrough was made last year by Fennessy. The new species were named: Northern, Southern, Reticulated and Masai giraffes.
http://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(16)30787-4
Some populations thus took much more important than before, especially for the highly endangered reticulated and Northern giraffe, this latter only has a population of less than 5000 animals, operated in three distinct sub-species: Kordofan (G. c. antiquorum), Nubian (G. c. camelopardalis) and West African giraffe (G. c. peralta).
The stronghold for this species is represented by the Kordofan and Nubian sub-species which have an estimated 2000 and 2650 animals respectively.
The last sub-species called West African giraffe is the most endangered of all is only found in South West Niger.
By the mid 90's, the population was on the verge of extinction, with a low 50 animals left around the brousses tigrées in the Kouré region.
From then, Niger, supported by international donors and institutions, started great conservation work with the local communities. Hopefully, local communities of Kouré are very tolerant to the giraffes that leave, travel and damage on their fields. This is amazing considering that they are struggling to produce mills with very little rain compared to before due to climate change. They have not only stopped poaching, but helped the population o increase back.
The population was about 175 in 2007, 311 in 2011, 366 in 2012, 450 in 2014.
The method used is a total count where each animal is uniquely identified in an album with 2 pictures of each side of the animal.
The last count was made in 2016 and identified 300 different giraffes. For some reasons some 2015 animals were not identified again but still survive, which gives the total population at 550 animals!
The trend is fantastic, 11% increase per year. If things do not change, giraffes could migrate to found new habitat (they might reach quickly the carrying capacity in Niger) and by 2027, it would be expected at this rate that the population would be around the 1000 animals.
Indeed, some animals are migrating in neighboring countries. Some giraffes were reported to be killed in North West Nigeria, and in the Gao region of Mali last year. It is then very relevant to start to work with communities and authorities in these countries to ensure that the western giraffe recover its foreign range on the the left side of the Niger river.
We sometimes only focus on very sad news, I then tried to take time to resumen the situation of this successful conservation project instead of only presenting the last count results.
The 2016 count report can be found here:
https://giraffeconservation.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/2016-West-African-Giraffe-Census-Niger.pdf
@wenchy visited the region and spotted some of these remarkable animals. Did you find many of them? I would be very interested to know more about your experience!

@ForWildlife You are right to say the census is very tricky. The trends are clear, new areas have been colonized in the last years. But I have doubts about the numbers. The researchers are now thinking of new methods to count the giraffes.

I am not very good at all to write reports, I have very littlef time to go on writing, but the truth is that I am not really motivated at the idea to select and then edit my RAW files...
We went to Punta Arenas in Southern Patagonia, Chile, to go on a cruise in mid january within the channels and sounds of the Southern tip of the Americas. Luis Bertea from http://www.patagoniaphotosafaris.com probablyoffers the best trip ever in Continental Patagonia. The Forrest M/N which was a former cargo boat in the Falklands, has been rehabilitated for ecotourism cruises. It can receives about 18 passengers, has 3 sea kayaks and 2 zodiacs to discover the channels, glaciers and whales that live in the fjords of the South of Chile.
I will try to write a short trip report, and use a video recently published by Luis Bertea on vimeo to give a better idea of the place.
The cruise brings tourists and more especially photographs in 4 major protected areas of Chile: Agostini National Park, Cabo de Hornos Biosphere Reserve, Alacalufes National Reserve, and Francisco Coloane Marina Park.
The 4 areas are full of ice fields with huge glaciers flowing directly in the sea. The Darwin range from Tierra de Fuego island is certainly the most powerful mountain range of the region.
A small recovering elephant seal colony is growing year by year in Jackson Bay, at the end of the Almirantazgo sound, just South to the large Karukinka Park, privately managed by the WCS (http://www.karukinkanatural.cl).
Very close to the colony, can be seen a most Northern black-browed albatross colony from Patagonia, critically endangered by one species devastating the Patagonia unique wildlife, the mink. In fact the two last years no chick survived, the WCS is currently working to try to eliminate this threat of the small island.
The Almirantazgo sound has rich nutrients waters formed by melting glaciers from the Parry and Marinelly sounds. On the first one can sometimes be seen leopard seals.
Tucket Islands, on the Eastern side of Dawson Island, is a great place to observe Magellanic penguins, rock and imperial cormorants. Two species of sea lions can be found in this area.
On the Western side of the Darwin Range can be found one true jewel, the Agostini Sound, with no more than 8 glaciers flowing inside the sound. On Hyatt Sound is another small population of leopard seals. Monte Sarmiento do Gamboa, the most beautiful summit South to Punta Arenas, is not very far from the sound.
But the real star of this trip is without any doubt the humpback whale, that use to stay in summer in the waters of the Magellanic channels, avoiding traveling 2000 km South to Antartica. This population, according to scientists, is part of the Stock G population, that breeds in the tropical waters of Panama and Colombia. About 180 whales have been recorded in the waters around Carlos III island, inside the Francisco Coloane National Park, which is rich in krill formed by the convergence of strong currents and melting glaciers of Santa Ines Island.
On the coast, wonderful sub-antartic forests (southern bleech forests) and peatlands, everywhere. Huge water falls, amazing sunrise and sunsets, strong winds and perhaps storms, this is the true Patagonia.
I live in Chile for 6 years, and I can tell you this is the most impressive place I have ever visited in Patagonia.
This trip can easily be combined with puma safaris with Roberto Donoso from Patagonia Journeys (http://www.patagoniajourneys.com). He works for many important international agencies.
Natphoto, another chilean photography agency, also guides tours over there. Rodrigo Moraga has been guiding different BBC teams in the last decades in the region. (http://www.natphoto.org/?expediciones=torres-del-paine-pumas)
I was in Torres del Paine last week and have seen two pumas over there. Another guide at the same time had 20 different observations in just 5 days!
I have never finished my trip report over there (and will probably never finish it, it takes me a lot of time to edit pictures…), but get sure this is a remarkable experience, THE best place to see pumas in the world.
Another amazing experience would be to travel to South Georgia, Antartica or the Falklands where I have been traveling in last november (no trip reports unfortunately ) with Natphoto. I am actually the guy really close to the king penguins chick on the picture:
http://www.natphoto.org/?experiencias=falkland-2015
Cheers
Jeremie

Thank you very much for this fantastic TR, it seems you have been really lucky with the lions!!!!
Could you tell us more about the changes that APN will implement in the park administration? Did you hear some recent sightings of the cheetah? Do APN plan to collar some cheetahs?

@Game Warden: That would be a pleasure! You should seriously take in consideration Patagonia as a next safari, there are plenty of great spots: The Magellanic Straits for whales, The Tierra de Fuego fjords for glaciers, albatros, leopard seal and elephant seals, Torres del Paine for pumas, the Valdes Peninsula for orcas, whales and elephant seals. the Patagonia park for pumas and guanacos, Pumalin Park for its majestic landscapes and active volcanoes...
And do not forget the Falklands and South Georgia with massive sub-antarctic colonies of penguins, albatros and elephant seals!

The last census was led in August 2017, and concluded that the population increased in 11% as of 2016, with a total population estimated to 607 animals.
https://giraffeconservation.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/West-African-Giraffe-Census-2017_comp.pdf
A short report was published concerning the translocation project to Gadabedji game reserve in Central Chad, which was chosen as the relocation site. This small reserve has very little animals left, I thus hope that the giraffe relocation will help the reserve to restore its wildlife populations.
https://giraffeconservation.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Translocation-Assessment-Report_December-2017.pdf
The Saharan Conservation Fund and the Giraffe Conservation Foundation will led the project in collaboration with the Niger authorities and the AVEN association of guides in the Kouré region (the source population).
The is no information concerning the number of animals to be translocated yet, but it seems that SCF and GCF decided to work with the veterinary Morkel, who is currently involved in almost every important translocation projects.
Further information is available in SCF newsletter Sandscript number 22 published yesterday.

Here is a fantastic video of our whale that jumped out of the water during half an hour at Paso Shag, that connects the waters of the Pacific Ocean with the Magellanic Strait through the Canal Barbara.
We have been very lucky to withness this moment. I am very grateful to Alex Baus who grabed this shot and the excelent profesional photographer Rodolfo Soto who mounted the caption.

We went back on the Forrest in early 2018. This was the third trip for Karina and my second journey onboard. The plan was a bit different with a stress on exploration of new areas such as the Brooks and the Martinez sounds.
The trip was a complete success, Hugo dived with the humpback whales, Alex and Luis took amazing videos with their drones of one whale that jumped 30 times. We here really happy to see albatros chicks back again, after three years of failure due to the invasive mink that led to a strong collapse of the small colony of Almirantazgo sound.
On the last day, we went kayaking with dolphins, what a fantastic an epic journey!
Here are some few pictures:
Bahia Aguila, Brunswick Peninsula
Antarctic giant petrel, Magellanic Strait
Black-browed albatross, Almirantazgo Sound
Southern Elephant Seal, Karukinka Park, Almirantazgo sound
Tundra landscape at Martinez Sound
Leopard seal at Hyatt sound, Agostini National Park
Humpback whale at Francisco Coloane Marine Park
Black-browed albatros in the Magellanic Strait
Black-browed albatros in the Magellanic Strait
Humpback whale at Francisco Coloane Marine Park
Kayaking at Martinez Sound
Black-browed albatros in the Magellanic Strait
Humpback whale at Francisco Coloane Marine Park
Canal Gabriel
Leopard seal at Hyatt sound, Agostini National Park
Black-browed albatros in the Magellanic Strait (Credits: Karina Abarca)
Imperial Shag at Canal Gabriel
Black-crowned night heron at Ballena Sound, Kaweskar National Park
Black-browed albatros in the Magellanic Strait (Credits: Karina Abarca)
Leopard seal at Hyatt sound, Agostini National Park
Humpback whale at Francisco Coloane Marine Park

The population of Manas rhinos increased to 32 from 5 animals more than a decade ago.
If rampant poaching is a major challenge, the Assam state is making huge efforts on patrolling involving new technologies such as drones to control the diferents protected areas of the indian state.
Assam has a vision to get 3000 rhinos by 2020, which involves translocation to Manas and other smaller protected areas along the Brahmaputra from the overpopulated Pobitora and Kaziranga national park.
http://www.wwfindia.org/news_facts/?14521

When speaking of tigers, people generally think about India or Russia.
While South-East Asia once hold a huge population of tigers, different factors led to their collapse. Tigers are today functionally extinct in Vietnam, Cambodia and Lao, where WCS and Panthera were still working few years ago in Nam Et Phou Louey, but they have been unable to see any tiger in the last years and thus decided to change their priorities.
We know tigers still survive in Myanmar/Birmania but very little is known there and tigers numbers are rough estimates. Panthera were a key actor to create the Hukaung Valley Tiger reserve in 2004 which has been lately enlarged in 2010.
Tigers are estimated to be less than what previously expected in peninsular Malaysia. (250 instead of 500). However, Malaysia will soon conduct its first ever tiger census.
Indonesia is facing massive poaching and deforestation, less than 500 tigers are expected to survive in Sumatra. The country unfortunately did not commit to lead any census up to now.
Panthera, WCS and WWF are working hard in key tiger units (recovery project in Cambodia Eastern Plains, Tamang Negara and Endau-Rompin-Johor complex in Malaysia, different TCU in Sumatra).
In Thailand, Tigers are still present in the Western Forest complex and Tenasserim landscape (map available here: http://d2ouvy59p0dg6k.cloudfront.net/downloads/dtl_trifold_v7_lr_sp.pdf), while few tigers survive in Khao Khai complex.
Stress was first placed on Huai Khua Khaeng which is along with Thung Yai the core area in the WEFCOM.
Thailand worked hard to secure this area with different partners and tigers are now stable and slowly increasing in the core area (60-65 tigers in HKK), migrating to surrounding areas. This is where NGOs are now working to expand secure tiger landscape by implementing successful tools developed in other TCUs.
Panthera currently works in Salakpra. WCS in Mae Wong and Klong Lan protected areas. They are working in increasing preys abundance by enforcing patrolling and law enforcement, as prey poaching is the main threat for tigers here.
There are plans to expand to Khaeng Krachan complex in the following years. Khao Yai landscape has seen its tiger population depleted.
The goal by 2022 is to increase the number of tigers by 50%. Annual counts will be lead each year in HKK. However, Thailand needs to realize a national census by the nation has not yet committed to do so.
Here is detailed information about the job done by WCS in the area:
http://www.wcsthailand.org/main/downloads/tigers/Tigers_forever_Summary_Report.pdf
http://www.wcsthailand.org/publication/Recovery_Tiger_opt.pdf
http://www.wcsthailand.org/main/downloads/dpky/DPKY_project.pdf
Further information
Myanmar tiger national plan:
https://globaltigerinitiative.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Myanmar.pdf
Lao/Cambodia:
http://www.wcs.org/saving-wild-places/asia/nam-et-phou-louey-lao-pdr.aspx
http://www.namet.org/fr/
http://www.panthera.org/sites/default/files/PAN_tiger_poster_2012_v3low.pdf
http://safaritalk.net/topic/14066-new-road-project-jeopardize-cambodia-tiger-restoration-plans/
Malaysia:
http://www.panthera.org/node/602
Indonesia:
http://www.panthera.org/programs/tiger/tigers-forever/indonesia
http://www.savesumatra.org/app/webroot/upload/factsheet/V2-Tiger%20Factsheet-Annisa.pdf
https://www.aza.org/uploadedFiles/Conservation/Commitments_and_Impacts/Sumatran%20Tiger%20Conservation_WCS.pdf

I went on an exploratory trip in the Eastern Beni, Bolivia in last October. This is a new project prometed by Nick's Adventures and Conservation Loro Bolivia in a typical farm from the Eastern Beni grasslands. The idea is to replicate successful conservation project from the Pantanal, in order to compensate losses from the jaguar through eco-tourism.
The trip was very short, but I had great sightings and missed this time the jaguar. But Nick scored twice in two trips.
Here is the Facebook webpage of the new San Carlos Wildlife Reserve:
https://www.facebook.com/San-Carlos-Wildlife-Eco-Reserve-145250859563610/
Here is my flickr gallery with the best shots taken during this trip:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/40746420@N03/albums/72157689878444816
Here is the Facebook webpage of the Conservation Loros Bolivia foundation:
https://www.facebook.com/fclbolivia/
The foundation is working with the blue throated macaw and more recently launched a new project with the hyacinth macaw in the San Matias protected area in Eastern Bolivia. I had a short visit of their breeding center where I saw some captive macaws which chicks should be released in the wild. Unfortunately, I only had sightings of blue and yellow macaws and none blue-throated macaw in the field.
Exploration trip in Eastern Beni.docx

Just upload more pictures form Fenelon, a fantastic sighting of a giant anteater in the pampa 500 meters away from the farm (on my first morning at San Carlos a worker reported a quick sighting in the same area).

I am quite sure this is the very first trip report of this place here on safaritalk, I have already uploaded are shorter trip report on mammalwatching.com.
I hope some people will not be afraid to visit the lesser known Bolivia. This country is absolutely fantastic, I have already visited 9 times this country (including 5 times the lowlands). It is much cheaper than its neighbors Brazil and Peru, and offers fantastic experiences with wildlife.
I strongly recommend to visit Madidi National Park, either at Chalalan Ecolodge or at the more rustic Berraco del Madidi lodge.
Amboro National Park Volcanoe lodge is also a good place to combine with a visit of the Beni or the Santa Cruz region. Nicholas Mcphee from Nick's adventures offers different trips there, some of them are 100% focused on conservation of the jaguar such as San Miguelito or San Carlos trips, where Nicholas try to replicate good models from the Brazilian Pantanal to compensate losses du to the jaguar. I am quite sure San Carlos will work provided it's receive good marketing, and hope this short trip report will help some people who are not afraid to sleep in rustic rooms to give a hand to save the jaguar.
The place is really amazing, wildlife is everywhere. If tourism comes, the surrounding farm will probably stop to kill jaguars and to hunt wildlife, animals will get more confident and this place might offer amazing sightings of giant otters, jaguars, and river dolphins, some quite unique isn't it?
Bolivia's wildlife is sadly nowadays threatened by a massive development at an industrial scale led by the pro-chines Evo Morales government, unfortunately very little interested in biodiversity and conservation. With the Chinese financing the Bolivian debts, wildlife trafficking skyrockets in the last two years and the first victim appears to be the jaguar, with the Chinese looking for its teeth. Jaguars are now literally killed everywhere in the Bolivian lowlands and it is not sure if they could ever survive this crisis. Tourism might be one solution to this issue.

On my very first day in the Beni, I decided to visit the conversation center of Foundation Loro Bolivia, one local Bolivian NGO that works with the critically endangered blue throated macaw.
I visited their breeding center, which aims to breed and release some chicks in the wild. They are now working on their executive plan and have just finished a genetic study to analyze the better possibilities.
We also went on the field at Loreto, one small town a hour and a half South to Trinidad, very close to the Hacienda Esperanzita where few pairs are breeding, but only managed to spot 2 pairs of the more common blue and yellow macaw.